Here are the first of the photos from Bora Bora. Thanks India! Our digital camera broke the day we arrived, so we don’t have many of our own shots. We’re relying on the kindness of our Bora Bora Buds. Special thanks to India, Sue, and Joy so far. More to follow. As you can see it was a great time. How great? Find out exactly how great in our upcoming articles in Passport Magazine, who along with VIP Escapes and Standout Vacations, sponsored this Escape with the Stars. Continue reading ‘Photos from Bora Bora 1’

Tom Bianchi will try to tell you that he’s not a great photographer. “What I don’t know about photography would fill many, many volumes,” he said to Sam and me this past weekend, with a humble grin. I’m not certain I agree, but nonetheless, he is a great artist who, for decades, has worked with subjects to create and capture moments that translate into beautiful, iconic images.

“I always take a lot of pictures and then God gives me some great ones,” he said, skimming through the thousands of shots he’d taken of Sam and me over the previous two and a half hours. He even let me shoot a few of he and his boyfriend, Aaron, as we took a break – according to Tom, something he’s never done before. It was an honor.

In Bora Bora a few of the service staff were conspicuously tall women whom the trained eye revealed to be men, and who represent ‘the third sex’ in the islands.

According to Francois Bauer, for centuries, traditional families in French Polynesia raised their eldest son as a woman, or Mahu, believing him to have divine qualities, and the best traits of both sexes.

In the 1960’s, when the French began nuclear testing in Tahiti, there weren’t enough women to entertain all of the soldiers, so many of the local men became women. Now that’s what I call hospitality.

MyPartner.com is looking for the handsomest and most sophisticated men in the U.S. to be America’s Gay Bachelor. They’ve started with a state-by-state eligible gay bachelor hunt with an eye to naming one of their hot catches America’s Gay Bachelor™ of the Year.

The last 36 hours on Bora Bora may have been the best, as far as we were concerned. Free of obligations to Kathy, the schedule, and the group – no matter how lovely they all were – we got to just be together and relax. Tuesday was the biggest little day of the trip. With nearly all of our group gone, the place was a lot quieter and a bit more boring, but we loved it.

Sam and I had breakfast and went snorkeling with our favorite girls, Sue and Joy, before we broke off for a snuggle and a nap in the room, and a late afternoon soak in the pool until almost 6pm, just in time for us to make our 6:30 water taxi to Vaitape (vay-TAH-pay). By the time we were departing, they had found the missing Canadian hiker, the Garfunkels had left the motu, and the resort hadn’t run out of food or electricity. Bliss.